Ray Comforts of the world unite!
There's yet another thread in the Evolution vs. Creationism forum that is founded on a grossly misinformed understanding of Evolutionary Theory. This time we're talking about those dastardly printed words found in
The Origin of Species and
The Descent of Man which, just so you know, play virtually no part in modern understanding of the science... Why it's a constant target of literalist Christians I still don't get.
I really wish you creationists would at least learn the basics of biology before attempting to "score one for the big man upstairs." There's just so much wrong with so much of these conversations that I don't even know where to start.
I didn't make these up.
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In chapter 7 of
Descent of Man, Darwin does specifically address human slavery.
"Extinction follows chiefly from the competition of tribe with tribe, and race with race. Various checks are always in action, serving to keep down the numbers of each savage tribe,- such as periodical famines, nomadic habits and the consequent deaths of infants, prolonged suckling, wars, accidents, sickness, licentiousness, the stealing of women, infanticide, and especially lessened fertility. If any one of these checks increases in power, even slightly, the tribe thus affected tends to decrease; and when of two adjoining tribes one becomes less numerous and less powerful than the other, the contest is soon settled by war, slaughter, cannibalism, slavery, and absorption. Even when a weaker tribe is not thus abruptly swept away, if it once begins to decrease, it generally goes on decreasing until it becomes extinct."
Darwin expects the weaker races to naturally go extinct.
He doesn’t advocate exterminating the weaker races; but he doesn’t say we have a moral obligation to keep them from going extinct, either.
"We have seen in the second chapter that the conditions of life affect the development of the bodily frame in a direct manner, and that the effects are transmitted. … There is, also, a considerable body of evidence shewing that in the Southern States the house-slaves of the third generation present a markedly different appearance from the field-slaves."
In this passage,
Darwin is merely using the physical appearance of slaves to prove his belief that climate, diet, and exercise result in acquired characteristics which are inherited. (Gregor Mendel proved this belief is wrong, and modern scientists know that acquired characteristics are definitely not inherited.)
The last two paragraphs of the book say,
"The main conclusion arrived at in this work, namely, that man is descended from some lowly organised form, will, I regret to think, be highly distasteful to many. But there can hardly be a doubt that we are descended from barbarians. The astonishment which I felt on first seeing a party of Fuegians on a wild and broken shore will never be forgotten by me, for the reflection at once rushed into my mind- such were our ancestors. These men were absolutely naked and bedaubed with paint, their long hair was tangled, their mouths frothed with excitement, and their expression was wild, startled, and distrustful. They possessed hardly any arts, and like wild animals lived on what they could catch; they had no government, and were merciless to every one not of their own small tribe. He who has seen a savage in his native land will not feel much shame, if forced to acknowledge that the blood of some more humble creature flows in his veins. For my own part I would as soon be descended from that heroic little monkey, who braved his dreaded enemy in order to save the life of his keeper, or from that old baboon, who descending from the mountains, carried away in triumph his young comrade from a crowd of astonished dogs- as from a savage who delights to torture his enemies, offers up bloody sacrifices, practices infanticide without remorse, treats his wives like slaves, knows no decency, and is haunted by the grossest superstitions.
Man may be excused for feeling some pride at having risen, though not through his own exertions, to the very summit of the organic scale; and the fact of his having thus risen, instead of having been aboriginally placed there, may give him hope for a still higher destiny in the distant future. But we are not here concerned with hopes or fears, only with the truth as far as our reason permits us to discover it; and I have given the evidence to the best of my ability. We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most debased, with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to the humblest living creature, with his god-like intellect which has penetrated into the movements and constitution of the solar system- with all these exalted powers- Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin."
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Darwin seems to go along with the pseudo-scientific racist writings and attitudes of his time. He seems to agree with scientific consensus that “savages” and “civilised people” (his terms) are different species, and that people, just like ants, are perfectly justified in taking slaves from weaker, inferior tribes. Thus, let's just get rid of Darwin's racist and wrong theories of "survival of the fittest" is the driver of natural selection and common descent from a chumpanzee. One can still attribute natural selection to Darwin.
